Fun with Insects and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Hi Everyone. 

I realize that I haven’t been blogging lately but I didn’t want to bog you down with frivolous things during busy times.  That said, I did want to take the time to wish you all a wonderful and safe Holiday.   And I wish you nothing but the best for 2010. 

If you have a bit of time during the holidays to surf the web, here are some interesting links for you to check out.

I get asked a lot about where to find great Insect Calendars.  Here are a few sources that I recommend:  

Entomological Society of America’s 2010 Calendar    and        Insect Calendars on Calendars.com

And for Insect Posters:

University of Guelph’s Insect Collection Posters

I am often asked where to find more detailed, higher level Insect Publications.  

Dr Steve Marshall from the University of Guelph has published a 736 page book filled with photos and short details on each insect.  It might be too high level for some but it is a great resource to flip through to try to find out which insect you recently caught to ID.    Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America

I refer to these next books all the time for field crop insect pests.  They are more expense as non-members of the society but they are worth it.  Entomological Society of America’s Insect Pest Handbooks.  I have many of these in my office so if you would like to see a copy before buying it, feel free to come and see me.

These are some of the most spectacular Insect/Arthropod photos out there:

 Igor Siwanowicz               Thomas Shahan          U of Guelph’s own Dave Cheung

And finally, if any of you have had a longer conversation with me, Ted.com usually comes up.  I am a huge fan of the talks on this site as they are some of the most inspirational, cutting edge and thought provoking discussions in the world.  I highly recommend that take the time to check out many of the talks on this site.  If you are an IT/gadgets freak you will be blown away with some of the near future technology presented on this site.  There have been a few interesting ones on insects too including:

Deborah Gordon Digs Ants   and   Dennis vanEngelsdorp’s Plea for Bees

Enjoy!